Brad Marchand Shares Message To Bruins Fans In Emotional Return To Boston

Brad Marchand didn’t have to wait long to rip off the emotional bandage that came with the emotional end of his Bruins tenure.

Marchand returned to Boston on Tuesday for the first time as a member of the Florida Panthers, just a few days after the B’s dealt him right before the NHL trade deadline buzzer. While he won’t play Tuesday night as he deals with an injury, Marchand hit the familiar ice for the first time in an unfamiliar sweater, taking the paces during the Panthers’ morning skate.

It should be an emotional day and night for Marchand. He wasn’t with the team when he was dealt, so he’ll have a chance to formally say goodbye to teammates, coaches, management and support staff. He also had a chance to meet with local reporters, and when asked what message he had for Bruins fans, Marchand got emotional again, choked up a couple of times during his session.

“For the Bruins fans, oh man, this sucks,” Marchand told reporters through the forming of tears. After the reporter apologized for making him emotional, Marchand continued.

“It’s all right. I think for me, my biggest thing is when I look at the situation, it’s, we were an incredible team for a very long period of time. Maybe we haven’t achieved everything that we wanted to throughout that time but you give up a lot in those runs. You give up a lot to go on those runs team wise like picks and prospects. It gets to a point where it catches up to you. The job and the will to win is there every single year.”

Marchand, of course, won the 2011 Stanley Cup with the Bruins early in his career. They returned to the Cup Final twice in subsequent years but came up just short in each. For Marchand, though, the 2022-23 season in which Boston had the best regular season in NHL history only to bow out in the first round, stung just as much as the Final setbacks.

“We knew there was a window. We maxed that out. We had our opportunity a couple of years ago and fell short,” he continued. “We definitely (the players) dropped the ball on that one. That was our year. They went all in in the years leading up to that season. When you look at an opportunity like that, it doesn’t come along very often. They did everything they could to put us in a position to succeed, and ultimately, it was on the players, and we didn’t come through and do our jobs when we had to.”

That bill eventually came do, and Marchand acknowledged as much Tuesday. If there’s any resentment toward the team about a failure to reach a contract extension, it will stay with Marchand. Instead, he praised the Bruins’ front office once again for its willingness and desire to win every season.

“Unfortunately, it didn’t work out,” Marchand said. “Eventually, decisions have to be made that are tough. I think they had their right intentions. Not going to get into details on everything, but they tried to do what’s best for the team and also give me an opportunity to stay if I wanted to. They put in position a deal they felt was fair in that regard but also understanding that maybe it was time to reset and go in a different direction. I think they were at a crossroads as well where they wanted to do right be and also had to make sure they do their jobs in the best interest of the group. I get the business side of it.”

Marchand also had a tremendous amount of perspective about why he thought the Bruins had to make this deal. The winger acknowledged the club couldn’t mortgage the future to make him happy, as that wasn’t fair to the players in the dressing room — and everyone else outside that room who loves the Black and Gold.

“I would have loved and it would have been incredible to have that fairytale ending, but they’re doing what’s right for the guys in that room. They can’t choose the one guy over 20 guys and frankly, the millions of people who support the team,” Marchand acknowledged.

“You owe it to the guys on term here who are young and the guys that just signed to build a Cup-contending team. I don’t get lost in that, I have a tremendous amount of respect for the management and ownership and everyone involved in the organization. That’s why you want to come here. They just want to win and they’ll do what it takes, and they’re ok to make tough decisions if that’s what it means. That’s their job. It’s not a personal thing, I never let it get personal. … I just, I don’t have anything bad to say because for a very long time, they’ve put our team in position to contend and to win. That’s all you want as a player.”